London Borough of Croydon

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Croydon Smoking Reduction Strategy 2005-8

Smoking is the biggest single cause of preventable illness and premature death in the UK, causing more than 114,000 deaths every year.

Although smoking has decreased recently, 13 million adults (26%) still smoke in the UK, with the highest impact being amongst the most disadvantaged. Croydon mirrors the United Kingdom, with very similar statistics.

It is clear that reducing smoking leads to improvements in wellbeing, with the most disadvantaged having the most to gain from cutting down or quitting, in financial as well as health terms.

Croydon's Smoking Reduction Strategy sets out our approach to reducing smoking, ranging from preventing underage sales and cutting down on smuggled cigarettes to the provision of 'stop smoking' services to help people give up the habit.

The aim of Croydon's Smoking Reduction Strategy is:

To reduce the cultural acceptance of smoking, achieve permanent reductions in its prevalence and, ultimately, to reduce the incidence of smoking and smoking-related disease and mortality.

There are four strategic objectives which underpin this aim:

  • Reduce the uptake of smoking in adults and young people
  • Reduce access to tobacco products through effective enforcement
  • Provide support for smokers wishing to stop
  • Protect non smokers from passive smoking.

The achievement of these objectives will require that the efforts and resources of the various agencies working together on this issue are effectively co-ordinated.

A detailed action plan has been developed to support all four objectives and can be seen in Appendix 2 of the Strategy.

A summary of these actions includes:

  • Promotion of the CitizenCard to help local shops abide by the law prohibiting sales of tobacco to people under 16
  • Test purchases by under-age volunteers to check on compliance
  • Talking to pubs about resiting cigarette vending machines so that they are in full view of staff
  • Seizure of counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes by Trading standards and the Market Inspector
  • Checks on retailers to ensure that they minimise point of sale advertising for cigarettes
  • Promotion of and referrals to the 'Stop Smoking Service' (contact 0800 019 8570)
  • Group and 1:1 support sessions
  • Provision of free nicotine replacement therapy treatments
  • Smoke Free Croydon Charter (see link).

Contact Details

Contact name
Croydon Council's Smokefree Coordinator
Telephone
020 8760 5759
Email
smokefree@croydon.gov.uk

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